Rashford’s volley into the ground pitifully dropped over the bar, as Eric Bailly’s blocked on Diego Costa prevented a 3-0 scoreline as half-time arrived.

A swift Chelsea counter-attack forced Chris Smalling to block from Hazard, as Lingard saw a powerful drive palmed clear at the other end.

Maybe forgiven had Chelsea scored their third on the break as United searched for a route back into the game, but instead, Juan Mata lost the run of Hazard in a nothing spell for the hosts in retrospect, with the former rolling a finish into the bottom corner.

If the damage wasn’t already done, the smallest man on the park and defensive midfielder by trade Kante was allowed to waltz through the visitors’ backline, slotting away a neat finish as the home fans couldn’t believe their eyes.

The Belgian keeper also denied Marcos Rojo’s late drive from range, as full-time arrived on an afternoon to forget for United, whose record at this venue stands at just one league win in the past 16 visits.

Had a David Luiz challenge on Marouane Fellaini warranted the red card that it deserved in the first half, the game may have been different, but United failed to capitalise on a solid display last Monday at Anfield and their positive performance in midweek against Fenerbahce.

Back-to-back home fixtures now await, with Burnley the visitors next Saturday in the first 3pm kick-off of the season for the club.

Before then, neighbours Manchester City turn up for an EFL Cup fourth round tie on Wednesday at 8pm, as Mourinho looks to avenge September’s league defeat in the same fixture, and quickly erase the memory of today’s forgetful showing.